Tea with friends

Weekdays are busy for me. When Sugar & Spice asked me to join them for tea, I was at first a little reluctant. But I went in the end, cos we've not done this for some time and the Ngs were coming in from KL for a short visit. After paying bills in town, I dropped in and these 2 were already busy on the floor... another was watching. With such company, how not to want to come, leh?

They were cutting out the patches for Christina's patchwork. Unlike patchwork of old, these ladies actually go buy the cloth and do a mix-n-match thing. Our grandmothers would be shaking their heads at such 'waste', I supposed. But what to do, these days we don't make our own clothes, so no leftover cloths.

I wanted to bring my tatting stuff but forgot... am stuck and have not progressed. But was too lazy to go home and get as it was really humid outside. Noticed the new tea set. Sugar & Spice had actually brought her new to set to tea! Even brought the bell along! LOL!

Before long my growling stomach led me to this... This chef comes from a fish mart in Sydney and his toque has been replaced by brush, for a good reason too. He plays a very important role in our tea. LOL!

This is what 'he' does! Our main course for tea was Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon) and he was needed to soften the rice paper wraps... to make it gelatinous and pliable. Ah Ho had also brought her puffs. I 'slipped' quite a few of them into my stomachs as well. Ha! Ha!

While we were busy trying out our hands at this new hands-on experience, Christina came out with this. Green bean soup in wine glass! Complete with coconut milk! What more could we ask for! She had even put on a new table cloth...

Anyway, the Gui Cuon rolling continued...it's like playing masak-masak, but it's real food that goes into our stomachs. 8) This filling is more of our Chinese popiah filling.... simply delicious!

The Ngs made it to Alor Setar for tea with time to spare for chit chat; that despite heavy downpour down in Ipoh. We see little of them ever since they moved to KL. Ah Ho lost her 'cooking' kaki... Poh Choo had also brought some food from PJ to add to the tea. 'Tong-Tong' brought some homemade ice cream by her Other Half and Bailey to compliment it. She and Siew Wah immediately hit off with their golf tales!

It was tea cum dinner for me... conversations flowed freely; a short gathering of old friends. More would have come if it had not been a working day.... but if we were to wait for the hols, we'd have missed out on something else. It's like seize-the-moment kinda thingy. Though my day was hardly over by the time I left Christina's, it was good to be able to get together cos we also got to welcome the Ngs.